Curran, Sandro Advance to Bellator Final

Pat
Curran fought at his typically measured pace and paved his road
to the Bellator Fighting Championships Summer Series featherweight
tournament final one figurative brick at a time.

Curran (15-4, 5-1 BFC) countered effectively, dictated when and
where the exchanges took place and controlled the cage en route to
a unanimous decision over Ronnie Mann
in the
Bellator 47 headliner on Saturday at the Casino Rama in Rama,
Ontario, Canada. All three judges scored the semifinal for Curran:
29-28, 30-27 and 30-27.

A potent offensive fighter blessed with speed and power, Mann
(20-4-1, 2-1 BFC) never got out of the gates. Curran bullied him
around the cage with tactical movement and fired a number of flying
knees his way. Few landed, but they backed up the Englishman and
short-circuited his rhythm. Curran scored with a takedown late in
the first round, passed to half guard and nullified Mann’s bottom
game.

Mann’s moments were too few and far between to make a
difference. He threatened Curran with a guillotine choke in the
second round, only to run out of time. Curran unleashed a few leg
kicks in round three, but Mann finally countered one of his flying
knees in the closing seconds. He transitioned to Curran’s back and
tried desperately to score the submission, first with a rear-naked
choke and then with a guillotine. Neither was successful.

A.
Quintero

Sandro (right) beat up Malegarie.

Sandro’s Skills Too Much for
Malegarie

The world-ranked Marlon
Sandro secured his place in the Bellator Fighting Championships
Summer Series featherweight tournament final with a unanimous
decision against Nazareno
Malegarie in the co-main event. Sandro (19-2, 2-0 BFC) swept
the semifinal scorecards by matching 30-27 counts.

Malegarie (20-2, 1-2 BFC) had no answer for the power and
precision of the Brazilian, as combinations from the former Sengoku
Raiden Championship titleholder left him damaged and bewildered.
Sandro unveiled other aspects of his repertoire in the second
round, as he delivered three takedowns and a flying knee.

Malegarie tried and failed more than once to get the fight on
the ground, where his considerable grappling skills might have
leveled the playing field a bit.

Uppercuts, jabs, left hooks and counter right hands all found
their marks for Sandro in the third round, as the 34-year-old Nova
Uniao standout won for the fifth time in six fights.

Horodecki Wins Unanimous Verdict

A.
Quintero

Horodecki (left) outdueled Saunders.

Takedowns, stifling top control and ground-and-pound carried
2007 International Fight League lightweight grand prix finalist
Chris
Horodecki to a unanimous decision over Chris
Saunders in a 155-pound showcase. All three cageside judges
scored it 30-27 for Horodecki, who has posted four wins in his last
five outings.

Horodecki (18-3, 1-0 BFC) secured multiple takedowns in all
three rounds, passed to half guard, side control and full mount and
proved to be the superior fighter on the feet, as well. He
capitalized on Saunders’ miscues when presented with them and did
nothing to disappoint the partisan crowd.

An Ontario native and Shawn
Tompkins protégé, Horodecki put an exclamation point on the
victory late in the third round, as he moved into full mount with
45 seconds to go and tagged Saunders (9-2, 0-1 BFC) with short
elbows and punches. The defeat snapped Saunders’ seven-fight
winning streak.

A.
Quintero

Grove (top) blasted Jensen.

Grove Batters Jensen En Route
to TKO

London-based South African Neil Grove
took out “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 10 alum Zak Jensen
with a series of brutal first-round elbows, forearms, punches and
hammerfists on the ground in a featured heavyweight duel. The end
to the action-packed scrap came 2:00 into round one.

Jensen dropped Grove during an initial exchange between the two
but surrendered dominant position and wound up underneath the
6-foot-6, 265-pound UFC veteran. The fight remained on the canvas
the rest of the way.

The 40-year-old Grove (11-3-1, 3-1 BFC) pelted his foe with
heavy shots from inside an open guard, leaned back for an ankle
lock, traded seated punches and returned to top position. From
there, he again battered Jensen (10-7, 0-1 BFC), who finally wilted
under the onslaught.